MRE picnic in the Croatan National Forest

 To complete the girls experience with eating MREs, we took them to the nearby Croatan National Forest to enjoy a nice walk through the Island Creek Trailhead. After arriving, the girls posed for a quick picture by the trail entrance sign. Each of the girls had their own backpack where they packed extra clothes, blankets, their MRE, and a bottle of water. It was pretty funny that most of them insisted on wearing a light jacket, even though it was beautiful outside at 60 degrees.

 Ah Dragonfly...gotta be goofy.

 On the trail...about 20 feet from the parking lot...

 Plenty of these guys hanging around. Dragonfly loved all the dragonflies surrounding us as we walked along the creek.

 Ladybug was excited to find a snail and was so worried because she almost stepped on it.

 First break and the girls dove into their MREs for a quick snack. Cookies and a muffin were their first picks.

PF had a strawberry/banana "milkshake" in her MRE and enjoyed adding water and shaking the package. The milkshakes are really not that bad at all. They are loaded with calories though (like most MRE food) so you (probably) need to be doing more than taking a leisurely stroll through the forest if you're going to drink one! But it was fun!

I'm really, really glad that this little guy was on the trail...and not one of several poisonous snakes that are prevalent to eastern NC.

 Butterfly digging into her main entree.

Yes...that's coffee...and quite good!